Persona 3: Reloaded

[Tide]

Because I like talking about games and because OK has vanished into the ether. I am here to carry on his work. Persona 3: Reloaded (P3R for short) is the remake of the original Persona 3 game for the PS2 from over 10 years ago. The overarching story is still the same and most of the gameplay is the same. I'd wager to say like 85-90% of it plays roughly how the original does. It does come with some bells and whistles of course and depending on which version of P3 you played, some or all of this may be completely new. Seeing as I am also insane like OK, I have played basically every version (Vanilla, FES, Portable and now Reloaded), below are a list of new OR adjusted features compared to vanilla:

General Universal Changes
- All characters can now choose their own skillsets, with a way to revisit and relearn old skills if need be (although this consumes an evening - more on time costs later). This gives them more flexibility with what they want to carry for DL purposes. Of course, PCs are also now all manually controllable, making it such that you can't really choose an ineffective skillset unless you really tried (like keeping Elec Boost but not electric attacks)

- All characters have now gained a new meter called Theurgy. In a nutshell, these are limit gauges. P3R being P3R though makes them a bit more complicated (okay, needless complicated for the nitty gritty details) as the charge rates for each character vary. The same action on one PC may not charge the same amount of meter as another character. More on this when it comes to the PCs.

- All characters can no longer be turn locked when their weakness is struck. This is very key. If you were voting on vanilla only, Mitsuru loses to Alaina (from Suiko3) or anyone with a lighter really because all they have to do is hit weakness, then do literally anything else but attack and the P3 PC loses their turn from recovering. Now, if you hit a character's weakness, they will auto recover after 1 turn.

- All characters also now have some unique equipment specific to them. Equipment in general has a huge overhaul. You still get your vanilla gear from Officer Kurosawa, but the special gear is a bit different. There are unique equips in Tartarus, but you can also forge new rare and stronger equips with heart items. Like in vanilla P3, some Personas will carry an item and upon reaching a certain level, drop the item into your inventory. This is the same deal in P3R but the Heart Items are much more accessible. Largely because of lower level thresholds, but also because of some changes to the XP mechanics and Shuffle Time. In General - Everything BUT the final tier of equipment is pretty accessible. I'll make a note if a PC wants something that belongs within this tier.

- Characters can now "Shift" or pass their turn upon getting a 1 more just as in P5. This is largely DL irrelevant unless they get teamed up together, but noting it for documentation.

Changes to the Makoto/Minato/Ren (whatever the heck you want to call him. I'd just refer to him as Yiu cause pun):
- For Fusion purposes, skills can now be manually selected. This makes skill inheritance much easier. As in later Persona entries, there are also skill cards available as drops and you can automatically slot these skills into a Persona's skillset as you see fit. All Personas (not just those of Yiu) are limited to 8 skills, so keep this in mind.

- Fusion spells can no longer be summoned at will. These are now tied specifically to the Yiu's Theurgy Gauge

- Some Fusions are now tied directly to interacting with PCs and getting their backstories. These events have time costs associated with them. If you are a stickler about this, Yiu can be shut out from getting access to certain ultimate Personas (read Max S.Link). The one off the top of my head is Kohryu, which requires Byakko, which can only be attained through a completed Koromaru backstory.

- Yiu also has a lot of access to free stat boosters. These come from a mixture of shuffle time changes as well as various social activities in the game that can alter his bases. I have factored in the ones to HP/SP since these are two stats that do not change when shifting to another Persona. The rest, you can deduct 1 or 2 points from their totals if you see fit.

Fuuka
- Fuuka has also undergone some major changes, although these effect dungeon exploration in Tartarus and not really the flow of the game.

- For the purposes of this topic, just be aware that Fuuka also has a Theurgy gauge. This matters largely for any bosses that may be documented (such as Jesus with a Gun) because it allows the player to tap in for extra assistance that isn't available in vanilla. Notably, it probably makes them worse.

- Certain accessories can be equipped on Fuuka but will have party wide benefits. Any SP+ items for example is a huge boon since it lets her scan an extra time and thus a faster Theurgy charge
- Fuuka also has some additional skills that are available within Tartarus such as Sylphid Aura that grant the team Auto-Maraku and Auto-Masuku, which drastically decreases enemy offense for the first several turns. These all cost SP.

Those are the major changes I can think of that effect battles at the moment. Will list more relevant ones if they come to mind. Now then, onto the next topic - Gameflow.

Gameflow
It's important to discuss Game Flow because it gets into one of the biggest issues on dealing with interps and unfortunately player averages. If you haven't played a Persona game since 2007, the way these game work is as follows. You are given control of your avatar (Yiu) and you have an entire year to do whatever you want within the game's list of activities. You are a high school student, so you have to attend school, but after classes? You can hang out with friends, go to the arcade, go do charity work, eat a burger - you name it. For the first several months in the game, you are required to take on a main mission every Full Moon (roughly 30 days) after which the cycle repeats. Of course, you also have certain obligations as a student such as writing your midterms and there are scripted plot events so there will be times when you are required to do something else which will take up your day.. After the first several months, missions are no longer scripted outside of the very final one that takes place at the end of the game.

Why this matters
Every activity or event in the game consumes time. Time in P3R is broken into either Daytime and Nighttime. In general Daytime availability is extremely valuable. This is how you improve character relationships (your Social Links) or view character events (backstories /linked episodes noted above). These directly tie into how strong of a persona you can fuse. When your relationship improves, it improves the strength of the Persona you fuse and if you max out a relationship, then the game grants you access to fuse the ultimate form of that particular Arcana. In contrast - Nighttime availability is much less valuable for the main reason that most people are not available during the night. Outside of hanging out with your team members, there are only 2 Night S.Links, so for the purposes of this topic, it assumes most - if not all - Night time activity is completed. This means the all PCs have their maxed characteristic and more importantly, a certain healthy grind mindset towards Tartarus.

Tartarus is the game's main universal dungeon. You are free to explore this place at your own pace, but it is only available during the Night. There are some days when you are barred from exploring due to scripted events. But in general, exploring Tartarus is how you get stronger physically (levels and such) versus improving your abilities (Personas). You can theoretically never touch Tartarus until the last day if you could beat the main missions severely under leveled. This is obviously not intended and with the amount of Nights that are available, the topic assumes a decent number of visits. Since fighting in Tartarus is also how you get crafting materials, you can see why I allow most of these equip options.

The Time Cost and how it hits the Averages
In previous Persona topics, it is assumed that your MC equivalent has maxed out all his Social Links because in those games, you can often end up with way more time available even after all your relationships are capped. As such, even if not played perfectly, there is a decent amount of leeway to presume that an experienced player can get most of the S.Links to the cap. In P3R, this is not the case. I've read two max S.Link guides and in both guides they note the amount of free Daytime availability is limited to roughly a week. 7 Days sounds like a lot, but due to the limitations of most S.Links requiring a Daytime slot, you can get locked out of a maxed S.Link run pretty easily. The caveat to this is that both of these guides assume you will complete the Linked episodes / backstories for Junpei, Ken, Akihiko, Shinjiro, Koromaru and Ryuji. If you decide for whatever reason to free up these days, then it gives Yiu more time to finish the S.Links. Just keep in mind doing this means you can also lock yourself out of some of the Max S.Link fusions.

How you want to take Yiu is pretty nebulous as a result. With max S.Links, he'll have the entire Persona compendium at his disposal in terms of what he uses for duels and obviously gives him the largest advantage. Whether or not that is reasonable given what I noted above though is another story. If you assume that a max S.Link 1st run isn't reasonable, there are some other ways to take Yiu as part of the average:

Method 1 - There are 3 fixed Social Links that you are guaranteed to max out regardless of what you do. These are Fool, Death and Judgment. So what methodology is to assume the bare minimum and give Yiu access to only the final Personas of these 3 Arcana. He'll still have like 80% of the list available but it strips out some more powerful options from the table.

Method 2 - An average 1st run through if you aren't really following a guide and doing everything blind will probably finish 16-17 S.Links (including the 3 fixed) of the 23 available. You can pick and choose which ones to skip, but I'd probably recommend ones like Aeon because of its extremely tight time line or those that require fusion chains like Kohryu (needs Byakko which requires completing Koromaru's backstories). You can also just selectively dump out the 7 worst final fusions from the average.

Note that with the introduction and advantage of skill cards, outside of truly unique skills like Alice's Die For Me! the base form of the Persona probably matters more than any other skill as you *could* just slap the skill on with the corresponding card. This topic will list out the most practical set up for a Persona. I'd also only include Personas within 10 levels or so of the final average unless it is a Max S.Link one as fusing Personas with that much of a deficit means Yiu starts taking big stat penalties. Also, Elizabeth warns you in-game whenever you do that, which is a good indication that it is probably too underpowered to be considered.

PCs and Theurgy -
All PCs in the game have a separate gauge that is charged during battle, which when it hits the max level, allows you to use a very powerful skill specific to that character. The game notes that every character has certain conditions, which when fulfilled, increases the rate of which their gauge charges. The truth is a little more complicated than because as it turns out, Theurgy is charged *every* turn in battle. More specifically, there are 16 separate states / checks (17 including one specifically for Fuuka) that are made and every time a check is satisfied, it increases the Theurgy meter for that character. Every character has one advanced charging condition where they get significantly more meter and then a lot of other states where they may gain a bit more than their fellow cost members. The mode for charge rates across every state is about 30 units unless otherwise noted. Note that every PC when recovering from getting knocked down will gain 100 Theurgy units. This is universal and applies to every PC except Fuuka. A maxed gauge is roughly 1000 units of charge. The separate states are as follows:

1. Recovering from being Knocked Down - 100 units for all PCs except Fuuka
2. Under "Charge" Status
3. Under a Stat Buff
4. Start turn with Low HP
5. Start turn with Low SP
6. Receiving a Shift Turn
7. Begin a turn with at least one enemy under a negative status effect.
8. Begin a turn with at least one enemy suffering a debuff
9. Scoring a Crit
10. Hitting a Weakness
11. Using a Physical Skill
12. Using a Magical Skill
13. Using a Healing Skill
14. Using a Support Skill
15. Using a Status Skill
16. Knocked an Enemy Down
17. Scanning Complete - Fuuka only (50 units)

I should note that once the event takes place, the gauge charges instantly. For example, if you heal someone, the charge would apply after the healing has taken place, so the presumption is that the charge only kicks in at the end of turn. However, starting off your turn with a buff also raises your theurgy, and that is a start of turn trigger instead.  You still need an active turn to trigger your Theurgy skill, but meter building occurs at the time of the event. This shouldn't matter too much except in niche cases but it is worth noting.

Each PC has 2 Theurgy skills, except for Yiu who has 7 (Fusion spells). They do not need to be selective and choose one before the fight like FF7. Instead, they'll have access to all their Theurgy skills learnt. Meter can be carried over from one fight to another so for those of you that allow half gauges or what not, keep this in mind for damage averages.

One other interesting thing of note is that each PC's starting Theurgy is apparently different every day in the game. There are kind of 3 ways to take this for starting meter:
- Option 1: Take starting meter to be all at 100. So no one has an advantage over another (the Jan 31 approach)
- Option 2: Consider dates of major boss fights (all full moon shadows, Strega, etc.), then average the starting rates out.
- Option 3: Consider the starting Theurgy of every available day that PC can be used. Then average it out.

While Option 3 would normally be absolutely tedious and insane to document, thanks to CTOBN, this information has already been mined in his database (see below). All we needed to do is to have someone take the data and calculate it. Shout outs to Nama for sending me the completed data, which will be included in each PC's load out.

Most of this information comes from a virtually completed datamine of the entire game, courtesy of CTOBN. You can find the link to it here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f4Bhkg0gBqUSm4YR1Bba1JsQn6w6fPDrqBTaWlHla8A/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Much thanks to him, otherwise this topic probably wouldn't exist for all the subsequent information that follows. We're going to be using it for lots of other things below. For those interested, I suggest checking it out as it might contain things I skipped over.

Equipment Expanded
I already noted the equipment from forging / exchange that can be done and the degree of ease with which most of it can be attained. In general, the base of a piece of equipment sans Dead Moon Husks (DMH) are all readily available and there are enough Tartarus days for the grind to get them. The only real question left is "Are the gemstones and Persona material easy to acquire". For the most part, the answer is yes. The most rare component here is actually the Gold Quartz. These are hard to come by but you can also exchange for 1 at a price of 200,000 Yen. This isn't exactly cheap but since there's very little to buy at end-game and you can also get some during Tartarus grinds, the end result is that there is often enough to come by. Each PC has four equipment slots - A weapon (unique), Armor (classed), Footwear (mostly classed) and Accessory (mostly universal). Unique obviously means it can only be used by one person. Classed in this case means it is separated between Male/Female/Aigis/Koromaru. In general, Aigis and Koro use their own armor class, so everything they can use is always unique. For the humans, it is a different story. There are significantly more males than there are females (4-5 to 2 depending on if you count Shinji), so while Female armor has a spectre of uniqueness to it (2/8 or 2/9 with Shinji), Male armor does not (4/8 or 5/9 with Shinji) unless it is specified. Footwear is similar except for the fact that dogs don't equip shoes.

As a result of the above classification and notes, the default armor for human PCs is going to be the Fallen Noble Armor. This costs 2 Soul Sea Droplets, 3 Gold Quartz and an AS Refined Material. You only need 4 for an active party, so this translates to 8 Droplets and 12 Quartz, which is manageable. This armor has 345 Defense and provides immunity to Mental status, which is kind of a big deal. Women have the added benefit other forged / exchange equipment, which gives them a bit more utility, but it's tough to argue with a great status blocker on a high defense item. Men on the other hand, just have to deal.

For Footwear, the default Footwear is the Mysterious Geta, which gives all humans +3 Stats across the board and has 99 Evade. Similarly, women have the choice of some unique footwear. Men on the other hand, again, have to suck it up. This mostly craters Junpei because he would love for you to give him the Dragon Boots (Auto TaruRebellion) as well as DMH weapon, but dem's the breaks. If you are very lenient, I'll note Junpei's weapon when it comes up. Otherwise, the Dragon Boots have 108 Evade and Auto-Taru + Auto Rebellion.

Accessories is up to interpretation. The default suggestion is to assume this slot is null (outside of status blocking) because every accessory can be outfitted on to every other PC. In practice of course, this isn't true. Some accessories like Wind Bracers for example is basically useless for every PC except for Yukari and the MC. Sure, there's an extreme fringe case where it *could* be useful for Koromaru, but that's highly unlikely. For this reason, there are a lot of accessories where in practice, they only impact 1 PC. You might consider this to be their "default" as a result - especially for those of you that adopt NEB/Dhyer's view where an accessory to block status should have an opportunity cost. In this case though, the human PCs are already going to be immune to mental status effects so whether or not you want to further extend an olive branch is up to you. If you do, most PCs want a +Boost element that matches their skillset in general. There is some flexibility and exceptions. For example - Mitsuru has a choice between boosting Confusion's success rate OR boosting Ice damage to free up a skill slot space. The one PC who has an advantage here is Akihiko because he debatably has no need for an accessory. He won't pass up on a free bonus passive if everyone else has one, but he gains significantly less so you might also want to tax him less (or none at all) if you're trying to slap on some penalty:

Yukari - Wind Bracers - to further boost Wind damage by 25%
Junpei - Slash Amp - to further boost Slashing attacks by 50%
Akihiko - Strike Amp - to further boost Strike attacks by 50%
Mitsuru - Amulet of Perplexity - to further boost Confuse success rate
Aigis - Pierce Amp - to further boost Piercing attacks by 50%
Ken - Light Boost - to further boost Light damage by 25%
Koromaru - Fire Bracers/Dark Bracers - to further boost Dark damage by 25%


Status Conditions and What not
Most of these shouldn't be news but it is good to go over again to clarify. There are 3 types of conditions in the game: Physical, Mental and Instant Death. Let's go over them:

Physical Conditions:
Poison - Take 20% MHP damage at the end of your turn. Lasts indefinitely.

Frozen - Lose your next turn. Evade drops to zero. Any physical attack made against a Frozen target is an automatic Critical Hit

Shocked - Lose your next turn. Evade drops to zero. Physical attacks have a guaranteed 35% chance to Crit + Crit Rate of the attack in question.

Dizzy - Lose your next turn. While Dizzy, your evade drops to zero, you take 30% more damage and Physicals have a +15% chance to Crit

Down - Lose your balance and fall down. Evade drops to zero and you take 30% more damage from incoming attacks. When a target is knocked down, the attacker receives a bonus turn (a 1 More) and they can receive some new team actions (Shifting/All Out Attack) or just use the turn as they deem fit. Once a target is knocked down, you cannot be knocked down again. Hitting a knocked down target does not re-stand them (as in vanilla P3). Attacking a knocked down target has a 30-50% chance of causing them to become Dizzy. I'll get the exact rates later. Automatically recover once it is your turn again.

Hitting a Weakness or a Crit results in a knock down roughly 99% of the time in the game. When doing so doesn't give a 1 more, it is because visually, your target doesn't get thrown off balance (such as Nyx). For this reason, some of you may consider the Knockdown to be what causes the 1 more and not the action of hitting weaknesses or crits.

Mental Conditions
Distress - Your offense and defense are halved and physicals attacks have a +60% chance to Crit. Wears off after 3-4 turns.

Fear - 50% chance of losing your next turn. Wears off after 3-4 turns. Physicals have 20% increased Crit

Confusion - Will act randomly. Most of the time though, you'll just waste your turn. Lasts about 4 turns. Physicals have 20% increased Crit

Charm - You will perform actions that are beneficial to you opponent such as healing them, buffing them, attacking your own team, etc.

Rage - Will only use physical attacks. Take twice the damage as normal.

Instant Death (ID)
Mudo/Hama - Dark and Light based ID. These run through the status check formula.

Ghastly Wail - Guaranteed instant death if you are afflicted by Fear.

Relevant Damage Formulas -
Massive special thanks again to CTOBN and his dissected formula and numbers guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3230774091

Cribbing out all the useful stuff for our purposes:

Damage - √(Skill Power x 15 x (Str OR MAG/END)) x2 x Affinity x Level Mod x Other Modifiers
Skill Power is the name of the ability. If it is an equipped weapon, the Skill Power is half of the weapon's strength.
Strength is used for physicals (Slash/Blunt/Pierce attacks) and Magic is used for everything
Affinity is the modifier based on the target's vulnerabilities. For the purposes of the DL, this is always 1
Level Mod is the modifier based on the level difference between the attacker and the defender. Again, for the DL purposes, this is always 1, barring some really good reason to assume a level difference exists.
Other Modifiers refer to other multipliers that are applicable. These include Boosts, Amps, the Charges, hitting weakness, buffs, being under status conditions, etc.

Theurgy Damage - √(Skill Power x 10 x (Level + 20) x (St + Ma) / En) x 0.7 x Level Difference x Affinity x Other Modifiers
I did mention Theurgy was more complicated than it looks. In fact, it has its own formula for damage.
Skill Power is the name of the ability. The rest are all pretty self-explanatory.

Accuracy - ((Attacker's AGI +200)/(Defender's AGI+200)) x Skill's Base Hit Rate
Every attack in the game has a varying hit rate although most are 90%+. Note that Evasion is calculated separately because P3R runs a separate formula for enemy accuracy.

Evade - {[((Attacker's AGI +200)/(Defender's AGI+200)) x Skill's Base Hit Rate] x Skill Modifier  x (Attacker's AGI +200)/((Footwear Evade/2) +200)} - Equipment Evade
Despite how stupid it looks, in summary, take your accuracy, then multiply it against the PC's Footwear Evade less any other Equipment Evade.
Skill Modifier refers to Passive abilities as well as the Sukus which all multiply accuracy by differing factors
Equipment Evade refers to any Armor or Accessory with an "Evade *Attribute type*" as its passive. This is subtracted from the calculated total at the end as a flat penalty for the attacker.
From the BMG, it looks like the Minimum Hit Rate is 50% while maximum is 99%

Crit Rate - (Attacker's Luck + 50)/(Defender's Luck + 50) x Skill Base Crit x Crit Rate Multiplier + Crit Rate Boosts
Every physical skill has an innate crit rate attached to it. For Weapon strikes, they all have a Skill Crit Rate of 3.
Crit Rate Multiplier is strictly looking at Apt Pupil (which Doubles Crit) and Sharp Student (Halves Crit for defender), otherwise it is 1
Crit Rate Boosts refers to everything else that buffs Crit Rates - Rebellion, Revolution, Crit Boost, Crit Amp, etc.
A weapon with a Crit Rate Up (X) where X is Low, Medium and High have an added 5/10/15% increased chance to Crit.
Certain status conditions will also add Boosts. As noted above, Dizzy adds 15% for example.

Status Accuracy -  ((Attacker's Luck + 100)/(Defender's Luck + 100) x Skill Success Chance x Affinity x Skill Multiplier x Physical Equipment Modifier x Mental Equipment Modifier)
The formula is pretty self explanatory...until you get to Affinity. Basically each status is classed as its own affinity with the exceptions of Down, Freeze, Shock, Hama and Mudo. If a target is weak to the affinity, then the Ailment success chance is increased by 25%
Skill Modifier refers to any success rate boosts coming off associated sets. For example, Freeze Boost, Shock Boost, etc.
Then we get to the last bits. To summarize, these only matter on defensive checks on PCs because enemies with Resist <Status Skill> just reduce the status by a 50% rate. Essentially, Freeze and Shock are treated differently by the game and their Resist Skills do not alter the affinity to the status condition but are instead just multipliers. Because of this, Resist Freeze the skill and Resist Freeze the equipment will not stack. However, Resist Charm the skill and Resist Charm the equipment will as one alters the base affinity and the other alters the success rate.
In a majority of cases, both of these modifiers will simply be 1.

[Tide]

Alright, so let's go into the PCs and changes. The way this will be laid out is I will list the PCs stats, theurgy information, skill set options and equip options. Then we will go over their set ups and where I think they stand. Note that PCs can always revisit their skillset at Blue V and relearn new skills. As noted, this costs a night time slot but seeing as night is readily available, I wouldn't hold it against the PCs that much if they need to make adjustments. For equips, I already noted at the top, but everything but the last tier is fair game. Dead Moon Husks are just miles rarer then the penultimate tier in Nihil White/Black items. You can theoretically farm these, but the method I've read up on to do this basically requires separate Tartarus visits and is pretty much limited to one at a time. So it's pretty tedious! YMMV of course - I'll note when a PC really wants a Dead Moon Husk (DMH) Equip.  For Theurgy, I'll be listing the states where the PC more Theurgy compared to the baseline of 30 as well as the average starting meter the PC has for every day where they are available to for use. As a general tldr for comments - Pretty much every PC has gotten a glow up. The degrees vary but expect to see some shenanigans in action.

Okay! Let's get started.

Yukari Takeba - "And there you have it"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Lightning, Null Wind.
Fixed Passives: Healing Apex - Yukari's healing spells cost only 1/4 of their normal values.

Theurgy 1: Cyclone Arrow - De Gives all party members (including Yukari) Concentrate (Mind Charge) status. Lasts until a magic attack is used by the target.als massive ITE Magical Wind damage to a single target, spread over 5 hits. Ignores target's Resistances.
Theurgy 2: Tranquility - Gives all party members (including Yukari) Concentrate (Mind Charge) status. Lasts until a magic attack is used by the target.
 
Average Starting Meter -
230 Units for Boss Days only
204 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Using a Healing Skill - 250 Units
2t. Being at Low HP - 50 Units
2t. Being at Low SP - 50 Units
2t. Using a Magical Skill - 50 units
2t. Using a Support Skill - 50 units

Default Skills:
Diarahan- 5 SP, Fully heals target
Amrita Drop - 14 SP, recovers from all status conditions except KO
Garudyne - 12 SP, Wind damage, single target
Sukunda - 8 SP, Decreases target's Accuracy / Evade by 30%
Pulinpa -  5 SP - 60% chance to inflict Confusion on a target
Poison Mist - 10 SP - 50% chance to inflicts Poison to all targets
Wind Break - 12 SP - Resets target's Wind affinity to Neutral or weaker.
Wind Amp - Passive. Increases Wind damage dealt by Yukari by 50%. Stacks with Wind Boost Already factored.

Other Skills:
Amrita Shower, Magarudyne, Masukunda, Mediarahan - The MT versions of the above, with SP costs 25, 22, 24 and 11 respectively. SP reduction on Mediarahan already applied.
Samrecarm - Fully revives an unconscious PC - 9 SP. SP Reduction already factored.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Garu, Me Petra, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Quitessence Bow - 400 Attack Power, 98% Acc Mod. Begins fights with Concentrate in effect.
Armor - Fallen Noble Armor - 345 Defense, Blocks Mental Status effects
Footwear - Mysterious Geta - 99 Evade, All Stats +3. Already factored
Accessory - Wind Bracer - Increases Wind damage by 25%. Stacks with Wind Amp. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Sargna - 370 Weapon Power, 98% Acc Mod. Turns Yukari's Weapon attribute to Light. Inflicts a random status 30% of the time.
Whirlwind Bow - 225 Weapon Power, 99% Acc Mod. Auto-Sukukaja Effect
Bow of Affection - 170 Weapon Power, 88% Acc Mod. Inflicts Charm at 30%

Armor
Flaring Flaire - 120 Defense. Nulls Fire type damage. Yukari only
Golden Dress - 280 Defense. Reduces Electric damage by 30%
Eternal Plate - 375 Defense. Reduces Physical damage by 30%

Footwear
Insulated Tights - 65 Evade. Reduces hit rate of incoming Electric attacks by 15%.

Comments:
As far as pure healer types go, P3R Yukari is scary. The Lightning Weakness sucks but Yukari has a handful of ways to mitigate that from becoming an immediate issue. An Auto-Suku Bow + Sukunda + Insulated Tights mean that actually to strike her weakness could be quite a challenge. And that's when the weakness is relevant. With her oodles of cheap full healing (seriously - 5 SP a cast), she can build meter very quickly, then unleash that on a Cyclone Arrow already backed up with Concentrate for huge damage. Even when she's in fear of being 2HKO'd, if you can be OHKO'd yourself, the synergy between her Theurgys (and the rate they build up) are real issues opponents have to deal with. Better have like an actual crit rate or something or she'll be more than happy to just heal until she rolls you over with her limit. 

In other cases when 2HKOs aren't being threatened, Yukari has actual damage now (thanks to acquiring an Amp) as well as Status that she can fish for. Confuse / Charm are a deadly pair and with her ability to just stall with healing, she has all the time in the world to land them. Once they hit, both status types are devastating and are pretty much instant GG if they hit. Losing between 3-4 turns in a duel is just a recipe for disaster. Poison too can also be a real issue for those that can't heal, since it does deal considerable damage per tick even if it isn't lethal. A much stronger improvement than Vanilla and even P3P incarnations. Heavy.


Junpei Iori - "That's Game!"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Wind, Null Fire.
Fixed Passives: Critical Amp- Junpei has a +10% Crit rate on any attack that can Crit. When he crits, the crits do an extra 40% damage, for a total multiplier of x2.1

Theurgy 1: Hack & Blast - Deals massive ITE Slashing damage to a single target, spread over 6 hits. Ignores target's Resistances. +20% Crit rate.
Theurgy 2: Blaze of Life - Deals massive ITE magical Fire damage to a single target, spread over 4 hits. Ignores target's Resistances. Junpei fully restores his HP to its max value
 
Average Starting Meter -
240 Units for Boss Days only
195 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Critical Hit with a Skill - 200 Units
2. Critical Hit with equipped weapon - 100 Units
3. Hitting Weakness - 80 Units
4. Being at Low HP - 50 units

Default Skills:
Agidyne- 12 HP, Fire damage
Brave Blade - 20% Max HP Cost, Single target Slashing damage, +20% Crit Rate, 90% Acc Mod
Torrent Shot - 11% Max HP Cost, hits between 2-4 times of Piercing damage, +10% Crit Rate, 85% Acc Mod
Vile Assault - 15% Max HP Cost, Piercing damage. Does 50% more damage on Downed targets, +3% Crit Rate, 95% Acc Mod
Rakukaja - 8 SP - Reduces incoming damage by 40%
Fire Break - 12 SP - Resets target's Fire affinity to Neutral or weaker.
High Counter - Passive- 20% chance to reflect incoming physical damage back to attacker
Regenerate 3 - Passive - Junpei recovers 6% of his MHP at the start of his turn.

Other Skills:
Marakukaja, Maragi and Vorpal Blade are MT versions of similar skills Junpei already has. Marakukaja costs 24 SP to buff an entire team. Maragi hits all targets with low fire damage for 8 SP. Vorpal Blade hits all targets, but costs 22% MHP and has only a crit rate of +13%. These skills are all situationally useful. Junpei also has Gigantic Fist that deals Strike damage if the separation of physical types becomes an issue.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Agi, Bash, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Balmung - 395 Attack Power, 92% Acc Mod, gives +7 to AGL (already factored). Weapon ignores Slashing Resistance.
Armor - Fallen Noble Armor - 345 Defense, Blocks Mental Status effects
Footwear - Mysterious Geta - 99 Evade, All Stats +3. Already factored
Accessory - Slash Amp - Increases Slash damage by 50%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Masakado's Katana - 440 Weapon Power, 92% Acc Mod. Gives +5 to all stats. Doubles base skill crit rates. Requires a Dead Moon Husk
Mikazuki Munechika - 235 Weapon Power, 92% Acc Mod. Auto-Rakukaja Effect
Laevateinn - 300 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. Turns Junpei's weapon attack to Fire attribute. Has Innate Fire Boost
Qindi Blade - 270 Weapon Boost, 92% Acc Mod. Has innate +15% Weapon Crit
Dojigiri Yasutsuna - 300 Weapon Power, 92% Acc Mod. Has innate Slash Boost.

Armor
Slugger's Jacket - 130 Defense. +40 HP. Junpei only

Comments:
Junpei is the cast loser. What can you expect when your entire skill set is so one dimensional and dependent on crits and there isn't a way for you to boost it? The reason why he is so good in game is because a) fights with multiple enemies allow Junpei multiple chances to crit fish. And he only needs to score 1 to 1 more off it b) he isn't restricted to the DL uniqueness rules. No reason not to just dump the Omega Drive on him to give him an early Apt Pupil for free and c) in a team, there are multiple ways and cast mates who can boost his Crit. From Mitsuru's status effects to Koro casting Revolution. The end result is that while in-game Junpei can walk into fights with a 70-80% Crit rolling, in the DL by his lonesome, he's stuck with a measly 30%. That plus his best damage eats into his HP constantly greatly diminishes his effectiveness.

He still benefits off generic P3R translation such as not getting weakness turn locked and having Mental status protection. But on the whole, a turn 3 killer damage turn is sometimes just too slow. He does have a variety of good weapon equips, but he's stuck to choosing just one. His limit is also sadly a non-factor most of the time because the advanced charging states are just too infrequent to matter (unlike Yukari). Middle, but probably a solid one.



Akihiko Sanada - "On to the next bout..."
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Ice, Null Electricity
Fixed Passives: Buff Amp - Buffs used on Akihiko are 30% more effective. This effectively causes Tarukaja to increase damage dealt by 1.82x, Rakukaja to decrease damage taken by 52% and Sukukaja to increase Accuracy by 69% and Evade by 39%

Theurgy 1: Lightning Spike - Deals strong ITE magical Lightning damage to all enemies in 1 hit. Ignores target's Resistances. 20% chance to inflict Shock (Jumps to 30% with Shock Boost).
Theurgy 2: Electric Onslaught - Deals massive ITE magical Lightning damage to a single target, spread over 5 hits. Ignores target's Resistances. Has an 80% chance to inflict Shock (Jumps to 120% with Shock Boost)
 
Average Starting Meter -
230 Units for Boss Days only
263 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Begin Turn with a Buff - 150 Units
2. Begin Turn with a Charge status - 100 Units
3. Begin Turn with low HP - 70 Units

Default Skills:
Diarahan - 20 SP, Fully restores target's HP
Ziodyne- 14 SP,  Lightning damage, single target. Has a 15% chance to inflict Shock (22% with Shock Boost)
God's Hand - 25% Max HP Cost, Single target Strike damage, +13% Crit Rate, 88% Acc Mod
Tarunda - 8 SP Cost, decreases target's damage dealt by 40%
Sukukaja - 8 SP Cost, increases Akihiko's Accuracy by 69% and Evade by 39
Elec Amp - Passive - Increases Lightning damage dealt by 50%. Stacks with Elec Boost. Already factored
Elec Boost - Passive - Increases Lightning damage dealt by 25%. Stacks with Elec Amp. Already factored
Evade Ice - Passive - Multiplies the accuracy of Ice type attacks against Akihiko by 40%.

Other Skills:
Unlike Junpei and Yukari, Akihiko does have other skills he might want to consider:

Sonic Punch - 9% HP Cost, inflicts Strike damage to one target. Has a 10% Crit chance and a 35% chance to inflict Distress.
Elec Break - 12 SP, resets target's Lightning resistance to neutral or worse
Shock Boost - Passive - Improves success rate of inflicting Shock by 50% of the base rate (see bracket for modified numbers).

Martarunda, Masukukaja and Maziodyne are MT versions of skills Akihiko has already set. These may be relevant for team matches.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Zio, Dia, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Evil Gloves - 410 Attack Power, 97% Acc Mod, Begin battles with Hear Riser (All stats up).
Armor - Fallen Noble Armor - 345 Defense, Blocks Mental Status effects
Footwear - Mysterious Geta - 99 Evade, All Stats +3. Already factored
Accessory - Ekasha Gada Bracers - Increases Strike damage by 50%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Sabazios - 350 Weapon Power, 97% Acc Mod. Turns Akihiko's weapon attack to Ice element. Gives +7 to Luck and has a 30% chance to inflict Freeze
Double Ziggurat - 300 Weapon Power, 97% Acc Mod. Innate Strike Amp
Kaiser Knuckles - 200 Weapon Power, 97% Acc Mod. Doubles base skill crit rate
Championship Gloves - 172 Weapon Power, 97% Acc Mod. Has innate Endure (Survives against fatal damage once at 1 HP)
Jack's Gloves - 145 Weapon Power, 85% Acc Mod. 30% Chance to inflict Charm.

Armor
Fiery Vest - 185 Defense. Reduces hit rate of incoming Ice damage by a flat 15%. Akihiko only

Footwear
Boxing Shoes - 45 Evade. Reduces hit rate of incoming Ice damage by a flat 10%. Akihiko only

Comments:
If Junpei gets screwed by the DL system, then Akihiko gets screwed by the mechanics of P3R where minimum hit rate is capped at 50%. With his plethora of equipment and skills, Akihiko can pretty much make his weakness a non-factor IF hit rates were allowed to drop below 50% since both his unique Footwear and Armor stack on top of each other. But alas, there is no real reason to use them unless you don't think he should have Evade Ice in his default set up. Barring that though, Akihiko is incredibly solid. He's a mixture of a dodge / bruiser type tank, mixing a combination of evasion along with high damage through either Magic or Physicals. That and he also has an Auto Heat Riser weapon makes him incredibly deadly in the short term while still being a potent threat for the long game. The combo of Tarunda + Full Healing + Sukukaja is incredibly strong, making damage tough to stick on Akihiko.

Another point in his favor is his Theurgy. While his doesn't have the synergy of Yukari's, the Shock chance on Akihiko's Electric Onslaught can easily make them lose their next turn, leaving them in a very vulnerable state of getting KO'd. With Shock Boost, the Shock pretty much becomes guaranteed. The BMG even notes that the Shock goes through immunities, which if true, makes it super nasty. Like Yukari, Aki's Theurgy always has to be considered because his advanced charging states are easy to hit. Like Yukari, a Heavy - likely a High Heavy of some sort held back primarily by the minimum accuracy cap and his weakness to a common element.


Mitsuru Kirijo - "Kneel Before Me"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Fire, Null Ice
Fixed Passives: Ailment Surge - When an opponent is inflicted with a negative status condition, Mitsuru and all her allies receive a flat +15% Crit Bonus

Theurgy 1: Blizzard Edge - Deals massive ITE magical Ice damage to a single target, spread over 5 hits. Ignores target's Resistances. 80% chance to inflict Freeze (Jumps to 144% with Freeze and Ailment Boost).
Theurgy 2: Blade of Execution - Deals massive ITE magical Almight damage to a single target, spread over 5 hits. Inflicts Debilitate (all stats down) on target.
 
Average Starting Meter -
213 Units for Boss Days only
237 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Success inflicting a negative status condition - 150 Units
2. Begin Turn with a Debuffed enemy - 100 Units
3. Hitting a Weakness - 80 Units
4. Begin Turn with a Status'd enemy - 60 Units
5. Begin Turn with Low HP - 50 Units

Default Skills:
Diamond Dust - 46 SP, deals massive Ice damage, Single target. Has a 60% chance to Freeze target (108% with Freeze and Ailment Boost)
Neuro Slash - 16% HP Cost, inflicts Slash damage to all targets. Has a 3% Crit chance and a 50% chance to inflict Confuse (60% with Ailment Boost, 90% with Ailment Boost and Amulet of Perplexity)
Rakunda - 8 SP,  Increases damage dealt to target by 40%
Concentrate - 30 SP. Increases next Magic attack from Mitsuru by 2.25x. If used in conjunction with a Theurgy the bonus is only 2x.
Marin Karin - 5 SP Cost, 60% chance to inflict Charm to one target (72% with Ailment Boost)
Ailment Boost - Passive - Increases all Status success rate by 20%. Stacks with other status change boosters. See bracket for modified figures.
Freeze Boost - Passive - Increases the base rate at inflicting Freeze by 50% of the attack. See bracket for modified figures.
Ice Boost - Passive - Increases Ice damage dealt by 25%. Stacks with Ice Amp. Already factored

Other Skills:
Mitsuru like Akihiko, has some other skills that might be warranted:

Tentarafoo - 10 SP, 40% chance to inflict Confuse on all targets (54% with Ailment Boost, 81% with both Ailment Boost and Amulet of Perplexity)
Eerie Sound - 10 SP, 50% chance to inflict Distress on all targets (60% chance with Ailment Boost, 90% with both Ailment boost and Amulet of Dismay)
Ice Break - 12 SP, resets target's Ice resistance to neutral or worse
Spirit Drain - 3 SP, Drains 20 SP from target and adds it to Mitsuru's SP Pool (Net 17 SP Gain).


Bufudyne is a weaker but more cost effect Ice damage single target attack (14 SP) if Mitsuru doesn't care about Freezing opponents. Most of the time she will though because that in and of itself can be a win-con.
Mabufudyne and Marakunda are MT versions of skills Mitsuru has already set. These may be relevant for team matches.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Bufu, Fatal End, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Snow Queen's Whip - 377 Attack Power, 95% Acc Mod, Turns Mitsuru's weapon attack to Ice Element. +5 Magic and Innate Ice Amp
Armor - Fallen Noble Armor - 345 Defense, Blocks Mental Status effects
Footwear - Mysterious Geta - 99 Evade, All Stats +3. Already factored
Accessory - Amulet of Perplexity - Increases base success rate of inflicting Confuse by 50%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Kokuseki Senjin - 425 Weapon Power, 95% Acc Mod. +5 to All Stats, improves all Magic damage dealt by Mitsuru by 25%. Requires a DMH
Longinus - 290 Weapon Power, 95% Acc Mod. Begins fights with Tarukaja in effect
Brionac - 270 Weapon Power, 95% Acc Mod. +5 AGL, Innate Ice Boost
Espada Ropera - 266 Weapon Power, 95% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Distress (24% with Ailment Boost, 36% with Ailment Boost and Amulet of Dismay)
Ice Sabre - 140 Weapon Power, 95% Acc Mod. Innate Freeze Boost
Malice Mary - 120 Weapon Power, 95% Acc. Mod, +20% Chance to Inflict Poison (24% with Ailment Boost)

Armor
Elegant Scarf - 200 Defense. Nullifies Wind element attacks. Mitsuru only
Golden Dress - 280 Defense. Reduces Electric damage by 30%
Eternal Plate - 375 Defense. Reduces Physical damage by 30%

Footwear
Fallen Angel Heels - 108 Evade. Reduces hit rate of incoming Fire damage by a flat 20%.

Comments:
Mitsuru is interesting in that her whole dynamic kind of changes compared to vanilla P3. Ignoring the turn locking weakness bit for a second, old Mitsuru had Diarahan, which gave her more sustainability and she had cast best damage outside of Yiu. In P3R, her damage is more iffy as she no longer learns Ice Amp on her own but she can supplement those with the right equipment. Her skillset has instead changed to be one that is focused more on inflicting negative status and pinning an enemy down that way. Thanks to Freeze Boost, Mitsuru's Diamond Dust has an over 100% success rate to enemies who are susceptible, meaning against vulnerable opponents, she just Freeze locks them the moment she gets a turn. It's even nastier because being Frozen means the next follow up hit is a guaranteed Crit. In-game, this makes Mitsuru and Junpei pretty much best friends. She sets them up, he blows them over. In the DL, Mitsuru gets all the benefits and none of the drawbacks.

If the opponent blocks Freeze, Mitsuru has with her up to 3 other status types including Distress, Charm and Confuse. All of them with the right set up are Turn 1 to boot and all of them can put on serious issues for enemies. Even with the best breadth of status guards like in the Trails series, this is very tough to deal with. And that's just the status end. Her DL set up manages to keep both Boost and Amp too, so she's not only crippling you with status effects, but she's dishing it out too. She does wish she still had Diarahan, but giving that up in a trade for a masterful status game, no weakness turn locks and the other P3R translation benefits? That's a trade she'll probably make 9 times out of 10. Heavy.


Aigis - "Threat Eliminated"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Lightning, Resist Slash and Strike, Null Pierce
Fixed Passives: Phys Amp - Aigis has a bonus 20% multiplier on all Physical based attacks

Theurgy 1: Orgia Mode - Deals strong ITE Piercing damage to all targets, spread over 5 hits. Ignores target's Resistances. User enters Orgia Mode.
Orgia Mode - Doubles offense and decreases damage taken by 1/2 for the next 3 turns. Under Orgia Mode, Aigis is immune to all status effects, cannot be knocked down and the usage of any skills and abilities do not consume any HP or SP. After 3 turns are over, user enters Cooldown state for 2 turns where no action can be taken.

Theurgy 2: Maximum Firepower - Deals massive ITE Piercing damage to a single target, spread over 5 hits. +15% Crit Rate.
 
Average Starting Meter -
216 Units for Boss Days only
177 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Persona uses a Physical Attack Skill - 120 Units
2. Persona skill scores a crit - 80 Units
3. Begin Turn with a Buff - 60 Units
4t. Begin Turn with Low HP - 50 Units
4t. Critical Hit with equipped weapon - 50 Units
4t. Striking a Weakness - 50 units
4t. Begin Turn with "Charge" type status - 50 units

Default Skills:
Diarahan - 20 SP, Fully restores target's HP
Akasha Arts - 22% HP Cost, inflicts 1-2 hits of Strike damage to all targets. 88% Acc Mod. +12% Crit rate. For more information regarding Multi-hit moves, see Koromaru's analysis.
Primal Force - 21% HP Cost, inflicts massive Piercing damage to one enemy. 92% Acc mod, +10% Crit rate.
Tarukaja - 8 SP. Increases damage dealt by Aigis by 40%.
Rakukaja - 8 SP. Reduces incoming damage against Aigis by 40%
Dekunda - 10 SP - Removes stat debuffs on all allies (Aigis included).
Resist Phys - Passive - Increases Resistances to Physical type damage by one level (already factored)
Enduring Soul - Passive - Fully restores character when they are defeated. OPB.

Other Skills:
Aigis doesn't have much in terms of alternative skills except for Myriad Arrows as an alternative skill. This is a MT Piercing attack that deals damage between 2-5 hits. It is weaker in everyway compared to Akasha Arts and only worth considering if she really needs a MT Piercing Attack or a Multi-hit attack for some reason.

Matarukaja and Marakukaja are MT versions of skills Aigis has already set. These may be relevant for team matches.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Diarama, Cruel Attack, Heat Wave etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Anti-Matter Cannon - 345 Attack Power, 93% Acc Mod, Innate Pierce Boost
Armor - Soul of Athena - 400 Defense, Blocks all Status Effects except Instant Death
Footwear - Swan Legs - 125 Evade, Grants Aigis a flat 20% Evade to all Magic attacks.
Accessory - Vijaya Bracers - Boosts Piercing damage by 50%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Metatronious - 450 Weapon Power, 93% Acc Mod. +5 to All Stats, Halves HP Cost of Physical Skills. Requires a DMH
Kyriotes - 270 Weapon Power, 93% Acc Mod. Begins fights with Sukukaja in effect for whole party
Frigid Grenade - 274 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Freeze
Rocket Punch - 200 Weapon Power, 88% Acc Mod. 30% chance to Inflict Confuse
Flash Grenade - 177 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Distress

Armor
Papillion Method - 360 Defense. Increases Orgia Mode duration by 1
Ergo Compound - 300 Defense. Reduces Electric damage by 20%
Fifth Number - 259 Defense. Reduces Physical damage by 20%

Footwear
Kugelbein - 100 Evade. Overheat recovery reduced by 1 (so 1 turn recovery).
Ergotite Legs - 64 Evade. Restores 2% MHP at the start of every turn
Proto Butterfly - 30 Evade. Nulls Light

Comments:
Aigis defines what it means to be a tank. Full healing, Defense buffing, immunity to status, resists all physical types (which she can then further stack with armor change), some flat magic evasion...yeah. Oh also, ENDURING SOUL cause this upgrade wasn't silly enough to begin with. Rides somewhere around the High Heavy/Low Godlike border. There isn't much else to say in terms of battle strategy. Just go ham with Primal Force, heal when low on HP and outlast, which she probably will unless you have really good magic type offense. As with some other members of this cast, her weakness can be troublesome but Aigis has some defenses versus it. There's the obvious magic evade, but also secondary is Orgia Mode. She can't access it immediately, but once she does, look out. Halving damage even more while being immune to being knocked down lets her just keep the momentum going.

Speaking of Orgia Mode, because it's a theurgy now, it's also more specialized. It's definitely more of an "All In" option due to the recovery attached, but she can make it less of an issue, again by swapping equipment. 3 turns of boosted offense/defense with only 1 turn on recovery can certainly be worthwhile. Similar to Yukari and Akihiko, Aigis' Theurgy condition is easy to meet. The downside is that her meter gains are relatively low although the frequency where she gains slightly more meter is higher. The end result is that she doesn't build bar that fast, but she does get it somewhat consistently so it maintains an actual option.


Koromaru - "Woof Woof Woof!"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Null Fire, Dark and Light
Fixed Passives: Auto-Masukunda - Applies Masukunda effect to opponents if Koromaru is in the active party

Theurgy 1: Hound of Darkness - Deals massive ITE magical Dark damage to a target, spread over 5 hits. Ignores target's Resistances.
Theurgy 2: Power Howling - Gives all party members (including Koromaru) Charge (Power Charge) status. Lasts until a physical attack is used by the target.
 
Average Starting Meter -
245 Units for Boss Days only
163 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1t. Critical Hit with a Skill - 100 Units
1t. Critical Hit with equipped weapon - 100 Units
1t. Hitting Weakness - 100 Units
4. Being at Low HP - 50 units

Default Skills:
Maragidyne - 24 SP, deals Fire damage to multiple enemies. 
Mudoon - 14 SP, 50% chance of Dark based Instant Death. Chance is reduced against Dark resistance and presumably ID Immunity
Eigaon - 15 SP, deals Dark damage to a single target 
Tempest Slash - 14% HP Cost, inflicts 1-4 hits of Slashing damage to one enemy. 95% Acc mod, +8% Crit rate. Average of 50% chance for 4 hits, 20.71% chance of 3 hits, 15.89% chance of 2 hits and 13.4% chance of one hit.
Masukukaja - 24 SP. Increases Koromaru's accuracy and evade by 30%.
Debilitate - 30 SP. Applies all stat debuffs (Attack down, defense down, Acc/Eva down) to one target. Lasts 3 turns.
Revolution - 15 SP. Gives all enemies and allies +15% Crit
Dark Amp - Passive - Increases Dark Damage by 50%. Already factored.

Other Skills:
Koromaru, unlike most of the cast, lacks the ST version of certain spells (such as Sukukaja), which forces him to use the more expensive version. He does have some other choices but they are a bit limited:

Fire Amp - Passive -Increases Fire damage by 50%. I went with the element that is less common
Getsu-ei - 13% HP Cost, deals more damage the closer it is to a full moon. 90% Acc mod, +15% Crit rate.
Virus Breath - 25 SP, deals Almighty damage and has a 50% chance to Poison

Mamudoon and Maeigaon are the MT versions of their respective spells. So useful in team fights - less so alone.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Maragion, Eiha, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

NOTE REGARDING KOROMARU'S PHYSICAL SKILLS:
Both of Koromaru's physical skills are pretty complicated. First, let's run over Tempest Slash, since I think this move has less debate regarding it's interp. Long story short, P3R has a formula that determines the number of hits a multi-hit moves is going to strike. As per the BMG, the formula is 1 / (max hits - min hits +1). However, if the attacker has Sukunda applied to it, it changes to (√(t - min hits +1)-√(t - min hits))/(√(max hits - min hits+1)) and it the attacker has Sukukaja, it changes to (√(max hits - t +1)-√(max hits-t))/(√(max hits - min hits+1)). To make nonsense out of all of the above, being hit with Sukunda decreases the chances of inflicting a high number of hits, while Sukukaja increases it.

For Getsu-ei, the skill has an additional modifier based on the state of the Moon when you fight battles. At it's strongest, there is an additional 1.75x multiplier attached to it. There are certainly arguments in-game that between the two "Moon Slash" type attacks, Getsu-ei is the better of the two. The main reason being that it is a move you can utilize on those all important boss days for boost. The game also ends on a Full Moon day, so any testing done at end game will basically always have this move at its maxed power.

Although it is quite possible for Getsu-ei to out perform Tempest Slash, Tempest Slash is the more consistent of the two interp wise as it does not force you to ask the question regarding "what moon cycle is it most likely" and figuring out Getsu-ei's true power.

Equipment
Weapon - Tyrant's Knife - 285 Attack Power, 96% Acc Mod, +7 Magic and Innate Dark Boost (already factored)
Armor - Aura Dog Suit - 380 Defense, +5 Endurance, Nullifies Light based attacks
Footwear - Bare Paws - 125 Evade. Locked - Koromaru cannot equip Footwear
Accessory - Agni Bracers - Boosts Fire damage by 50%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Vajra - 410 Weapon power, 96% Acc Mod. +9 to All stats. Innate Ali Dance (Halves accuracy of all incoming attacks against Koromaru). Requires a DMH
Underworld Kunai - 330 Weapon Power, 96% Acc Mod. Turns Koromaru's Weapon element to Dark.  Has innate Dark Amp
Full Moon Kunai - 288 Weapon Power, 96% Acc Mod. Innate Slash Boost
Pairing Knife - 185 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict a random status
Carnage Knife - 155 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. Begins fights with Tarukaja
Hazakura - 130 Weapon Power, 85% Acc Mod. Turns Koromaru's Weapon element to Wind.

Armor
Gaia Dog Suit - 345 Defense. Restores MHP by 6% and 7 SP at the start of a turn.
Sun Dog Suit - 256 Defense. Resists Fear by 50%
Powered Dog Suit - 222 Defense. Begins fights with Tarukaja and Rebellion (+7% Crit) in effect
Rock Dog Suit - 150 Defense. Innate Endure


Comments:
Koromaru has a pretty nasty evade game going. Having Sukunda automatically placed on an opponent while he himself can boost his evade with Sukukaja means he's pretty reguarly hitting the Min Accuracy gap. Like Akihiko, he wishes the cap wasn't there because he does rely on it to keep himself healthy. He lost Mudo Boost so his ID is even chancier it he has to rely on it. Luckily, he does pack pretty solid damage with a Boost and Amp, has 2 elements to play with so he's harder to wall and of course, NO WEAKNESS. In fact, his 3 immunities are all pretty DL common, so that's a big gain - even though he already nullified Fire and Dark to start.

Koro does gain a small physical game in P3R. He's not a pure ID mage or pure mage like in the original. He sort of has this hybrid niche going where he can sort of go physical (due to have a Slash Boost weapon, the mechanics of multi-hit attacks along with Crit Boosts), albeit he's worse at it than Junpei, Aigis and Akihiko. If he could access his theurgy more reliably, then he would be a menace as he can easily store his Charge. Unfortunately, his advanced charging conditions are all very situational in the DL. He's in the same camp as Junpei in that regard.

The icing on the cake here is Debilitate which renders enemy offense to be a fraction of their usual strength by cutting their power and accuracy. This gives him more time regardless of which strategy or offensive angle is going for. The main thing that sticks out are his very high SP costs. Because he lacks the ST versions of certain attacks, Koro chews through his SP very quickly - especially if he's recasting Sukukaja. Still, very solid, but doesn't have as much of a complete package as you'd want. Some flavor of Heavy likely.


Ken Amada - "Don't look down on me"
Level
HP
SP

Affinities - Weak Dar, Null Light
Fixed Passives: SP Restore - Ken recovers 10 SP at the start of his turn.

Theurgy 1: Divine Retribution - Deals massive ITE magical Light damage to a target, spread over 8 hits. Ignores target's Resistances.
Theurgy 2: Divine Intervention - Fully restores all party member's HP, recovers from KO and adds Physical and Magic Repel

Average Starting Meter -
183 Units for Boss Days only
208 Units for Total availability

Charging increases under the following states -
1. Start a Turn with SP below 50% - 200 Units
2. Persona using a Healing Skill - 80 Units
3t. Persona using an Offensive Magic Skill - 60 Units
3t. Hitting a Weakness - 60 Units
5t. Being at Low HP - 50 units
5t. Persona using a Support Skill - 50 Units

Default Skills:
Mediarahan - 44 SP, Fully restores HP for entire party. 
Ziodyne - 14 SP, deals Lightning damage, 15% chance to inflict Shock
Hamaon - 14 SP, 50% chance of Light based Instant Death. Chance is reduced against Light resistance and presumably ID Immunity
Kougaon - 15 SP, deals Light damage to a single target   
Tetrakarn - 24 SP. Guards Ken or any other one ally from one physical attack and reflects it back to the attacker.
Makarakarn - 24 SP. Guards Ken or any other one ally from one magical attack and reflects it back to the attacker. Certain magic attacks can pierce this, notably Almighty ones.
Heat Raiser - 36 SP. Applies all stat buffs (Attack up, defense up, Acc/Eva up) to one ally. Lasts 3 turns.
Light Amp - Passive - Increases Light Damage by 50%. Already factored.

Other Skills:
Similar to Koromaru, Ken doesn't have Diarahan so he has to use the MT version, which is significantly more expensive. However, his passive ability plus his Theurgy advanced charging both put a silver lining to this disadvantage. Some other skills Ken might consider:

Mediarama - 16 SP. Restores 150 HP + Bonus from MAG to the whole party. The Bonus appears to be about 85 HP, making it heal 235 HP total.
Dekaja - 10 SP. Removes all stat boosts from enemies.
Vile Assault - 15% HP Cost, deals 1.5x more damage if target is knocked down. 95% Acc mod, +3% Crit rate.

Mahamaon and Makougaon are the MT versions of their respective spells. So useful in team fights - less so alone.
Weaker skills from the same family (such as Kouga, Zionga, etc.) are available but have been discounted due to being obsolete.

Equipment
Weapon - Gungnir - 400 Attack Power, 99% Acc Mod, +5 Magic, turns Ken's Weapon affinity to Lightning. Innate Elec Amp (already factored)
Armor - Fallen Noble Armor - 345 Defense, Blocks Mental Status effects
Footwear - Night Demon Sandals - 80 Evade. Provides Ken a flat bonus 20% Evasion against Dark attacks. Ken only.
Accessory - Light Bracers - Boosts Light damage by 25%. Already factored.

Equip Options:
Weapon
Pinaka - 440 Weapon power, 94% Acc Mod. +100 to HP and SP.
Gae Bolg - 200 Weapon Power, 90% Acc Mod. Turns Ken's Weapon element to Light.  Has innate Light Boost
Tonbo-Kiri - 330 Weapon Power, 96% Acc Mod. Blocks all Mental Status
Omega Spear - 270 Weapon Power, 94% Acc Mod. Has Auto-Tarukaja effect
Poison Glaive - 244 Weapon Power, 94% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Poison
Sexy Lance - 154 Weapon Power, 94% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Charm
Lance of Death - 176 Weapon Power, 94% Acc Mod. +20% chance to Inflict Fear

Armor
Hero's Cape - 224 Defense. Blocks Confusion. Ken only

Comments:
Everyone has gotten better or sidegrades, but no one has as ridiculous of a glow up as Ken. I mean, just look at his skillset. SP Restoration on a Healer is pretty silly and about Ken's only real issue is his high SP cost on his spells. The silver lining as noted however, is that his Theurgy gauge charges at its max advanced rate once his SP drops below 50%. As such, he doesn't have any real problems tossing Mediarahans to put himself into that spot. Then, he waits a couple of more turns and proceeds to either nuke you with a Heat Riser Divine Retribution. His second Theurgy is a bail out option and lets him stall even more because you know, he didn't have enough silliness to start.

Ken has access to 2 Amps like Koro, meaning he's also tougher to wall as you need to block both Thunder and Holy to immune his attacks. But even then, that doesn't really stop him because he just wall you with the Karns unless you double turn him, then proceed to nuke you anyway because Theurgies ignore resistances. He even has Yukari's silly low status game too if it comes to it because his healing gives him the longivity for those 20% chances to hit. Like Koro, he doesn't have Hama boost anymore, but unlike the doggo, the healing let's him gamble more on the low hit chances if need be, which obviously helps. The Fear lance is the only one that isn't a wincon, but the Charm one probably is if it hits. Like Aigis, he's a champ powered Heavy - likely a High Heavy / Low Godlike borderliner.

[Tide]

And now the moment most of you have been waiting for - time to break down the protagonist, MC / Makoto / Minato / Yiu whatever the heck you want to call him. So let's go over some basic stuff, then some assumptions before we really dive in. Buckle up, cause this will be a doozy.

Basics with MC/Yiu/Makoto/etc. -
Yiu is different from the other characters in a few ways. The most significant is that he can hold more than 1 Persona, up to a maximum of 12. This means that he has actually 108 Skill slots instead of 8, spread amongst 12 different Personas of his choice. Second, in battle, he is able to change his Persona once per Turn on his Turn. As such he is able to divest his skills in various ways and gain a significant advantage on his opponent. You acquire new Personas either through battle OR through fusing them together.

Persona Fusions and S.Links -
Yiu can combine 2 Personas to create a different Persona. The actual mechanics of this can be pretty complicated, but the long and short of it is that given enough time and money, you can fuse everything you need outside of the Ultimate Fusions and Quest locked ones. As noted in the preamble at the very start, depending on how you view the time cost associated, this means Yiu can be locked out from very power fusions he would love to use. There are certain good Personas that do not have any locks so these should be always available regardless of how your interpretation and what's fair. In general, since we've assumed other PCs have special equips, it's easier to assume Yiu has access to most, if not all of his Personas. The only ones again I would put a marker on are Metatron as it's a chain fusion requiring the Aeon Arcana to be maxed (and you only have 3 weeks to max it) and Ken's background story to be complete. So it is a 2 step chain fusion where failure of one means Yiu can't access it. If you do so, Orpheus Telos is also out as it is only available if ALL S.Links are mixed.

S.Links are the name of the game for Personas as they strengthen the Persona on fusing. When Maxed, the Persona fused becomes +5 on its stated level, allowing it to gain a bunch of additional skills and sometimes even getting it's fused item instantly. Around halfway through the game, Growth 3 becomes readily available. This skill is key as it distributes EXP to Personas that are in your battle inventory but currently not active. This allows you to quickly level up a group of Personas which is also why fusion items are easier to acquire. You can also dupe Growth 3 through Skill cards (more on this later) and it is one of the safest things to dupe if you aren't sure what to copy. As such we will also assume Personas have their entire skillset learnt.

The one limitation to fusing Personas is that you can only fuse Personas up to your current level. For the most part, this allows you to fuse like 95% of the compendium as it looks like end game level is going to be around 85. This means that Personas that are Level 85 on base and above (notably Messiah, Lucifer, and Orpheus Telos) cannot be used. However, there is a catch. The new Shuffle Time system allows Major Arcana cards to do different things and one of them (Sun in particular) gives you the ability to fuse Personas +5 of your current level. With that in mind, you can fuse Personas up to 90, which covers everything but Orpheus Telos and Messiah. The Cards are randomly generated alongside loot and are added to the pool of major arcana cards available but they spawn relatively frequently. As with Metatron, I'll make a note when this is important.

Skill Cards and Inheritance -
This is where it gets messy. So starting in P4 and onwards, the Persona games have provided greater quality of life features by letting you freely select which skills you want to carry over from fusing Personas. Previously, this process used to be random, but weighted towards that Persona's affinity. So a Persona who is fire oriented (such as Surt) is more likely to adopt Fire related skills. Now though, you can pick and choose what you want. As I noted, given enough time and money, this means you can fuse anything you want and carry forward any skill you want. Want Repel Strike on a Persona weak to Strike that doesn't learn it normally? No problem. Just chain a fusion link that eventually passes the skill to it. The major barrier here is money. Any sort of chain fusion will typically require a significant investment because you may have to resummon previous personas or intermediary ingredients to get to your ending Persona. It also always requires at least 2 spaces and if the chain fusion requires more than you need to resummon your dismissed Persona for battles. As such, one way to limit the silliness of skill inheritance is to apply a maximum amount of Yen available. The average cost of an end game Persona being summoned by the compendium is roughly 60,000 Yen. The higher and better the Persona, the higher the cost of summoning. Lucifer for example costs closer to 80,000 Yen.

As for Skill Cards, this is somewhat easier surprisingly. In essence, Skill cards are earned as loot based on the block of Tartarus you are in. The most relevant and end game ones can only be earned at the last block. As such, there is a limited number of days that you can dupe the Skill card and its availability is more restricted. You are allowed to dupe any Skill Card once per day but if you don't have that Skill Card, you obviously cannot dupe it. January is when the last block of Tartarus opens and from there you can get up to Queen rank skill cards as well as Skill Cards sold by the antique shop. Assuming you are able to get the full list Day 1, that gives you about 30 days to dupe and still retain a copy of the original. To me, this number is pretty significant because say you get a skill card from the antique shop. If you want to apply that skill (say Spell Master) to multiple Personas, the safest way is to use the Shrine to dupe the card an X number of times as you want. You wouldn't go back and regrind for the trade materials from Tartarus, even if you could. "But Tide, you can just grind X hours from Tartarus to get like 99 copies of Repel Strike". Yes, I'm aware you can do that. But is it reasonable? I think most people would take 1 or 2 and then dupe the rest as they see fit. Besides, with my interp, you don't have to weigh the possibly weighted RNG rates for each skill card. Who knows if Repel Strike is more common than Repel Pierce?

The "No Fun" Zone -
One subtle issue with Skill cards is that it dilutes the uniqueness of each Person Yiu can summon. The problem of course is that there are some universal skills (such as Ali Dance) that is just good on every Persona. With that in mind, allowing Skill Cards can actually diminish what makes each Persona unique. If Yiu has 12 Personas and they all carry Ali Dance, that doesn't really reflect the fact that some Personas are better tools or have better skills which in-game absolutely matter for what makes a good Persona to form as your anchors. A simple way of looking at this is that base Orpheus can be forged and slapped with skills such as Brave Blade, Crit Amp and whatever you want for a physical Persona. It doesn't make it necessary good at it, but you sure as hell won't be able to differentiate it aside from the affinities versus another Persona that carries those skills like Siegfred. As such, you might consider disallowing Skill inheritance and Skill Cards on general principle. In set ups, I'll be marking extra preferable skills with an asterick so you know it is tacked on.

Interps of this topic:
Based on the above, these are the restrictions that I think make the most sense to be taking into the average:

1) Allow all Personas sans Orpheus Telos and Messiah. Simple enough, they will be above the level threshold and as such you won't even be able to fuse them normally anyway. I will still list them at the bottom for those of you (like Djinn) that allow literally everything. One thing that can swing this in Yiu's favor - In-game, he is likely to have a level lead (about +3 at minimum) if you are at least rotating your roster around reasonably. This is just because he can't be removed from the party and thus will absorb EXP from all sources. If you factor this in, his level would be 88, which with the Sun Arcana lets him fuse up to level 93 Persona, thus making both Telos and Messiah available.

2) Allow all Ultimate arcana Personas. This is just in issue of fairness. If we are allowing some of the more powerful equips for the rest of the cast, then Yiu should have access to his more powerful Personas. It's a fair enough trade IMO given how to get some of those weapons, you need the heart items from some of those fusions (see: Yukari's preferred Bow). ALso, picking out 7 Personas or determining which Arcana is most likely going to be maxed sounds like ground for a lot of bias. Best to just nip that altogether.

3) Each Persona listed will have its compendium Summon Cost PLUS the amount of varied skills it wishes to attach to its skill list in astericks. Yiu would then be allowed to form his 12 Roster Persona within a certain budget and within 30 preferred Skill alterations. This would reflect some of the cost and day limitations that I noted above. It would provide some restrictions but fairly reasonable ones I feel that don't cross into the realms of Min-Max grinding.

As for the budget allowed, I think working with around 750,000 Yen would make sense. This would be equal to 60,000 Yen per Persona, which appears to be the average cost of a late game Persona x 12. The more Yiu wants the best Persona which he often will, the more he has to pay - reflecting a portion of the Inheritance chain cost. Giving Yiu 30 free Skill cards of his choice is an acceptable middle ground for me. It provides him with ample customization but has some reasonable restrictions that reflect the in-game time. If Yiu somehow needs more money or 30 cards to slap together his ideal Persona list, I think we've reached some sort of breaking point.

Ultimate and Quest Personas -
I'll be getting a more complete list, but for now, here's the list of Personas that are locked behind needing to get a S.Link to Rank 10 or requires the completion of a quest or back story before it becomes available to be fused. Be aware of these if you are ready to withhold them from Yiu based your interps:

Futsunushi - Requires max Magician S.Link
Scathach - Required max Priestess S.Link
Odin - Requires max Emperor S.Link
Alitat - Requires max Empress S.Link
Kohryu - Requires max Heirophant S.Link
Cybele - Requires max Lovers S.Link
Thor - Requires max Chariot S. Link
Melchizedek - Requires max Justice S.Link
Arahabaki - Requires max Hermit S.Link
Lakshmi - Requires max Fortune S.Link
Atavaka - Requires max Strength S.Link
Attis - Requires max Hanged S.Link
Yurlungur - Requires max Temperance S.Link
Beezlebub - Requires max Devil S.Link
Chi Yu - Requires max Tower S.Link
Helel - Requires max Star S.Link
Sandalaphon - Requires max Moon S.Link
Sun - Requires max Sun S.Link
Metatron - Requires max Aeon S.Link

Hou-ou - Requires completion of a quest from Elizabeth (no time cost, fairly simple)
Masakados - Requires completion of a quest from Elizabeth
Lucifer - Requires completion of a quest from Elizabeth

Horus - Requires completion of Akihiko's Backstory (roughly 5 days)
Byakko - Requires completion of Koromaru's Backstory (roughly 5 days). This is required for the Kohryu fusion
Surt - Requires completion of Junpei's Backstory (roughly 5 days)
Hell Biker - Requires completion of Shinjiro's Backstory (roughly 3 days)
Michael - Requires completion of Ken's Backstory (roughly 5 days). This is required for both the Metatron fusion and Messiah fusion.
Saturnus - Requires completion of Ryuji's Backstory (roughly 2 days).


Persona Building Philosphy
The way the Personas are going to be set up for the purposes of the stat topic is to make them be specialized. In short, a physical attacking Persona is going to stack physical passives together and maybe only have 1-2 active skills. Given Yiu can swap Personas out mid-battle, the only disadvantage to this might be inopportune timing in some duels. Like if he needs a specific resistance but also wants to cast a specific spell, that might be tough if all your tools are designed to do only thing. Still, this is preferred because it allows Yiu to optimize his damage for various situations. There are a lot of powerful passives in-game and the main thing holding them back is that applying a defensive passive (for example Ali Dance again), means you cannot apply an offensive passive or skill in its place. If you're building a Persona that wants to hit things hard, that's one additional multiplier you cannot stack. There is a max multiplier stack of 5 according to the BMG so Yiu won't have to stack higher than that, but he will often want to come as close as possible which means he will want often be using many of the skill slots or ways to buff his attacks.

Another note here is that most games that differentiate the type of physicals. It's often just considered one type: Physical. Sure, this isn't always true (see: FF7) but those are the exceptions to the norm I feel. In these cases, consider if using some of Yiu's allowed Skill Card replacements make sense. Because if they do, swapping over to another typing is often going to save you the trouble of considering an entire new Persona altogether. There will probably be one or two "Generalist" Persona he wants to carry (ie: can do multiple things if need be), but he will often want to carry other Personas for specific circumstances vs. having all of them balanced. That's something that's a bit different than in-game, where you will be carrying more generalists than not (just so you won't be caught off guard by a particular enemy) but going into end-game, this is likely where you will be shifting your fusion focus to anyway, so I think its pretty reflective.

[Tide]

And averages